- Zero emissions vehicles accounted for 25.7 percent of all new cars, trucks and SUVs sold in California in April to June, the highest percentage ever.
- A total of 118,181 battery, plug-in and hydrogen-electric vehicles were sold, though that was down slightly from Q2 2023’s record-breaking 125,939.
- Automakers including Rivian (sales up 71 percent) and Ford, grew their share, but Tesla’s California deliveries dropped 24 percent, Forbes says.
California was the first state to introduce a ban on combustion cars, which is due to come into force in 2035, but many Californians aren’t waiting until they’re forced to switch before ditching their gas-powered autos. New figures show zero emissions vehicles accounted for over one quarter of all car sales in Q2, but the real shocker here is that Tesla sales dropped sharply in the same period.
A total of 118,181 battery, plug-in and hydrogen-electric vehicles were sold in California between April and June of this year, which isn’t quite a record – the state took home 125,939 sales of the same type in Q2 2023.
Related: Over Half Of Tesla Owners Switch To Gas Cars, But That’s An Improvement
But because the overall car market was down by a greater amount this Q2, zero emissions vehicles, which fared better, took 25.7 percent of the market. That was their biggest share yet, three times the national average and up 0.7 percent on 2023.
Some automakers are reaping the rewards of this boom in EV interest, including Rivian, whose sales jumped 71 percent in Q1. But Tesla, who has has done more than any other company to legitimize the electric car in the public’s eyes, hasn’t fared so well.
Its sales were down 24 percent in Q2 in California, and 17 percent across the first half of 2024 in the state to just over 102,000. That compared with a 5 percent drop nationally, though California remains Tesla’s biggest market globally.
And its sales in the Democrat-loving state could take another hit now that Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has come out in support of the Republican candidate for November’s election, Donald Trump, a decision that will have no doubt aggrieved California governor, Gavin Newsom.
“I want to applaud and thank the extraordinary work that Rivian has done,” Forbes reports Gavin Newsom telling reporters on a conference call this week. “Tesla is not the exclusive manufacturer any longer in this space. You’re seeing a dramatic shift in competition across the sector. This is exactly what was predicted. This is exactly what we have been promoting: competition in the space.”
